Last night’s episode of The Sopranos was just the kind of show I’ve been waiting for! I know a lot of longtime fans love what’s been happening in Season Six, but not me. Most of the episodes have been boring and uneventful, so it was great to see a return to form. I’m just hoping this lasts for the rest of the season (series). Anyway, here’s what happened on episode 6×14, which was called “Stage 5.”
Christopher screens the movie he’s been working on for who knows how many seasons now. It’s called “Cleaver” and looks as stupid as you’d expect it to be. After the screening, Carmela nags Tony about how bad Christopher made him look. The boss in the movie is obviously based on Tony, and the character doesn’t exactly come off as a good person. When Carm confronts Christopher, he says she’s just seeing things that aren’t there. But then Christopher goes directly to his co-writer and demands that JT tell Tony the characterization was all his idea. After the use of a little force, the guy agrees.
Meanwhile, Johnny Sack gets word that he’s in the final stages of cancer and doesn’t have long to live. He gets a second (unofficial) opinion from an oncologist who is now serving time for triple homicide, and this guy thinks Johnny could live up to another year. But later, even he agrees that Johnny’s time is up. By the end of the ep, Johnny does succumb while surrounded by his family.
There was also a whole bunch of succession stuff that I didn’t really follow. I have a hard time keeping the guys in the other family straight, so I won’t even attempt to unravel the various power plays that occurred in this episode. Sorry.
Also, I should mention that we finally get to see another session between Tony and Melfi. I have missed her so much!! Tony spent the whole time talking about how unappreciative Christopher is, and we can see that Tony is really hurt by this. Oh, and from the way Tony and Christopher were acting whenever they were around each other, you can just tell that something bad is going to happen to one of them soon.
My Reaction: As I said above, this is the kind of Sopranos episode I’ve been waiting the last two years for! Several storylines took distinct steps forward and now I finally get the feeling that the end is near. It’s time to start wrapping things up, and the writers are certainly making headway now. Finally!!! I am finally excited about The Sopranos again!!
Last night’s Entourage episode was called “Dog Day Afternoon” and was a typical transitional episode that dealt more with the guys and their daily lives than with Vince’s career. Here’s a quick recap of what happened in 3×14: